Guest Opinion: The First War Of The 21st Century

Many
government officials have stated that "This Will be the
First War of the 21st Century", in reference to the war on
terrorism resulting from the World Trade Center attack. A
worrisome implication of this statement is that since this
is to be the first war, then there will most likely be a
second, a third, a forth, a fifth
....etc......etc......etc.

This may seem to be
unnecessarily alarming, but since we are basically doing
things the same way as we did in the 20th century, it seems
logical that we will get the same results, i.e., more war.

Some people will say that this is not so because we are
evolving into more mature creatures that can better handle
world affairs insuring peace, justice and prosperity to all.
But since most of us spend hours every day watching
television aimed at a four year old mentality, the only
evolution we are experiencing is reverse evolution leading
to less maturity and most likely more war where the only
intelligence that's shown is an increase in the efficiency
of our killing machines.

Another troubling factor we must
face is the fact that the 20th century suffered from
governments that were either military dictatorships or were
governments that had elections where rich people and
corporations used their money to fund their favourite
candidates for public office, insuring business friendly
governments that were most likely to cut social programs and
cause social unrest which in turn leads to more war.

Isn't
it time that we woke-up and smelled the coffee, realised
that doing things the same way only gets the same results.
Isn't it time we do things differently, like get big money
out of government, like change the United Nations procedure
where only five countries can veto all debates.

Isn't it
time that we realise the methods that despots like Adolf
Hitler used, like full control of the news media so that
only their opinions are offered to the public can only lead
to social unrest and war. I mention this because many
countries in Islam also have full control of the press.

In Afghanistan, owning a radio or television is banned
and they are having a civil war and most likely a foreign
invasion. Isn't it time that we must state that all
governments do not have the right to limit the news the
people can receive. This is a criticism that I also aim at
the United States, because it's news media was once
controlled by hundreds of different news organizations, and
is now controlled by only three or four companies, thus
establishing corporation control of the news media. This is
really strange in a country that claims to be a
democracy.

The current American government in stating that
"This Will Be the First War of the 21st Century" is proving
that it is out of touch, by not realising that the war on
terrorism has been going on for over twenty years and so is
nothing new.

What about the attack in Somalia on October
1993 that killed 18 Americans? The attack on U.S. embassies
in Kenya and Tanzania in August of 1998 that killed 224?
What about the attack on the U.S.S. Cole that killed that
killed 17? What about the attack in Lebanon that killed 241
and many other hijackings of airplanes and ships over the
years?

When I was a kid in grammar school studying
history, I came across a war called the "The War of the
Roses", I immediately thought that they really didn't fight
over some flowers, but simply just ran out of names because
of the many wars they were fighting.

Isn't it time we make
a study of the causes of war and re-design our governments
and social institutions so that we can end war or at least
lessen the frequency of War.

And in a world where nuclear
weapons are spreading to ever more countries. Isn't it time
that we question the very basic form of representative
governments we are governed by.

If governments received
report cards like we got in grade school, I think they would
definitely get a failing grade because of all the wars we
had, along with economic disasters, drug companies gouging
profits and environmental destruction.

Why not look into
the possibilities of an electronic democracy, let the people
have decision making power, instead of just personal
selection in elections overflowing with corporation money
(didn't we used to call this corruption).

I mean aren't we
supposed to be evolving into more intelligent
creatures?

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